In April of 2016, I wrote an article that told my feeling and my opinions about Kraus-Anderson moving its offices to Broadway Place East in Northeast Minneapolis while we demolish our old offices downtown and build a new headquarters on that spot (as well as an apartment building, Finnegan’s brewery, and hotel). Now, this October we plan to move back to that new headquarters, and I, like most other KA employees, am excited for the move. For me, it’ll be closer to everything, so I can get more personal stuff done. Plus, during the winter, I won’t have to worry all that much about getting to and from work. In a sense, it’ll be just like it was before, but better.

New building amenities

Brenden Nickels

First off, after going on the “Sneak Peek” at the jobsite, I have found that I will have a lot of amenities available to me. For instance, I will be on the first floor, close to the lunchroom, with the Bevi water cooler (with the option to choose between plain and flavored sparkling water), and the bean-to-cup coffee machine, plus a small convenience store like we have already in this building. It kind of feels like the future is here already. In addition, I really think having a fitness center on the premises is good, so I can get a workout in as soon as I get done from work, and I can save money by not paying for a monthly gym membership. I also am liking that I can sign up for a MetroPass, so I can also save money by not paying for my own monthly bus card.

To be honest, I don’t think I’m going to miss the Broadway Place East offices at all. Of course, location was the biggest factor. But there were other things that I won’t miss about it, either. I don’t think I will miss having to share the elevator with strangers, or having to commute between the second and fourth floors. But I will need to create a new mail route for five floors and a whole lot more people, though.

Social advantages

Our Circle Pines and Realty offices will be joining us in this move as well, bringing together the majority of the KA landscape into one building. I will have to introduce myself to a lot of new people, although I have already gotten to know some employees at the Minneapolis office who got transferred to Circle Pines during my time here. There have also been times when I have already met Circle Pines employees, such as the annual golf or bowling event, but now I can see them more often. While we’re on the subject of social events, we can probably now do them at places inside the metro area, rather than drive on out to the suburbs, which is another advantage. It’s kind of like the merging of two companies, except it’s just one company that’s merging three offices.

New opportunities

Throughout my whole time at KA, I feel like I have found a family here. I really don’t want to leave this organization, and I am also seeing this move as an opportunity to shape out my future. Who knows? Maybe I could move up to full-time employment. Maybe I could move into one of the apartments in the HQ building. (That obviously wouldn’t be a long commute.) This may be a chance for me to start living a more independent, adult life.

As time changes, and technology changes, many companies, not just KA, have adapted, or at least attempt to adapt. With this building of a new headquarters, as well as moving everyone from most of our offices into it, shows that KA is willing to be compliant in this modern day and age and committed to getting whatever job we need to do done. To be quite honest, I kind of want to starting packing up and making the move right now. But we still have a little ways, and a few more months to go, and when the time comes, it will be not only be the start of a new chapter for Kraus-Anderson in general, but for everyone at the company as well.

3 responses to “United as One: Preparing for the Move Back Downtown”

Great article Brenden. Well done. I agree with you that we are all excited to move into our new building. It will be nice that all of us are merging so we can get to see ALL of our employees that much more. 🙂

Very well put Brenden! An interesting perspective and I’m excited to be returning back there too. I was at the block today 10/4/2017 – and it is very strange to see the block as it is now – with a completely dense building block – and not as it was before – just the office building and surface parking.